by Alexis Anne
I bristled. I hated that word. “Why?”
“He sees trust like that as a weakness, I think.”
When I thought of my family and friends, but mostly when I thought about Roman, I understood this most of all. It required a great deal of trust to let people so deeply into your life, and the wrong person could hurt you just as deeply with access like that.
It could be a weakness, but it could also be a strength. “Real love given freely is the strongest thing I know.” As I gazed down at him I knew it was also the hardest to give away.
I wanted to fall in love with him. I wanted desperately to let go of every doubt and just fall . . .
But I wasn’t ready. There was something holding me back.
He groaned and rocked up against me. “June,” he whispered. “I want you.”
I knew he meant it in every way. He didn’t need to say it—it was written all over his face.
“I want you, too.” I reached for the button on his jeans. “Did you bring a condom?”
He nodded. “Always.” Some of the hope had disappeared as I pushed us away from our feelings and toward sex.
He lifted his hips and helped me shimmy his jeans down far enough to free his cock. When he was sheathed, I pulled my panties to the side and pressed against him. I rode him slow, trying to make sense of the way he made me feel.
“This is the best view.”
I looked up at the sky. There were stars everywhere and not a cloud in sight.
“Not just the stars, June.”
Oh . . .
I froze. “Roman . . . I can’t take anymore. It’s too much. I can’t feel this much.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re you.” I placed my fists on either side of my head trying to hold it together. “How can you want me or any of the things you just said?”
“Hey.” He pulled my hands away, holding them to his chest. “Stop trying to figure it out. It is a lot and it is fast. You don’t have to want the same things I just . . . ” he looked everywhere but at me, “I just wanted you to know in case you felt the same way.”
I did. I wanted the future he described so much it hurt. What if he was like George? What if he hurt me? How would I recover after giving myself to him and he destroyed it?
And that’s when it hit me. I felt this way because I loved him. I wouldn’t feel this vulnerable if I didn’t.
I wasn’t falling for him.
I’d already fallen hard.
“What are you thinking?” he whispered. “You’re thinking something.”
I wanted the house filled with friends and kids and Roman. I wanted it enough that I was willing to risk getting hurt. “I think we might want the same thing.”
“Yeah?” He ran his hands up my shoulders and into my hair, pulling me down for a kiss at the same moment he rocked inside me.
I pressed back, taking him deeper. This felt right—like we should always be together like this.
“Maybe? I’m . . . ” Confused, lost, needy? Maybe I was all of them combined.
He pressed another kiss to my lips while we moved together, following the instinct instead of the confusion in our minds.
Every caress was tender, every stroke intentional. Our lovemaking was special. I knew this. But was that enough?
I arched back as he dropped the straps on my sundress. He nuzzled me, his hands running up and down my bare back, holding me to him.
“I’m close,” he gritted out.
“I am, too.” Close but not close enough. I was too jumbled up with feelings and thoughts to really let go.
“Look at me.” His hand cupped my cheek, gently guiding my gaze down to him. “Tell me where to touch you. Here?” His other hand tangled in the folds of my skirt, searching for my clit.
“Yes.” Oh yes.
“Here?” He circled my nipple with the tip of his nose.
“More.”
If we could be like this outside of sex—give and take—maybe we could be a couple.
It was so intense with him watching me, his eyes locked on mine. We were connected in every way possible.
“Let it go, June. Let it all go. Be with me.” His voice was pleading. Desperate.
I couldn’t resist. When we were together all I ever wanted was him. It was crystal clear.
I gave in and my orgasm immediately took control, wave after wave of pleasure crashing around his cock.
“Yes!” he cried out, holding me to him as he thrust up and into me hard. “Yes . . . ”
I slowed when he started kissing me everywhere—usually a good sign that he was done—and looked up at the twinkling stars.
“A million stars in the sky,” he whispered. “And it’s still not as beautiful as you.”
Did he mean it? All of it? The house filled with friends and a future built on love? “You’re sex drunk.”
He didn’t laugh. “I’m serious” His hands fell to my hips and massaged. He always gave them a rub down after sex since my hip was a problem. “I want more out of life than a baseball career. I don’t understand everything yet, but I’m working on that. One day I hope you’ll see it, too.”
I could already see it in his eyes. I hoped it would be enough to get us through a feud, fame, and a lot of doubts. And as I got lost in his eyes, remembering his dreams that sounded a lot like mine, I already knew it would be enough. We just had to have the courage to trust it.
29
Present day
Everything was set. All I needed were the guests. It was exactly as I imagined it in my head, which was pretty impressive because I imagined a lot.
Roman gave me the surprise wedding of my dreams and I was about to give him the surprise reception of his.
The backyard was trussed up in white and blue balloons, garlands, and string lights. There was a little wooden dance floor and a DJ. I’d appropriately warned the neighbors I was hosting a loud party and offered to buy them all dinner. The caterers dropped the barbecue off at my house first, then delivered to the four neighbors that agreed to my bribery.
Inside, the house was decorated with more lights, garlands, and candles. There was a keg of Fat Tire and a bar of bourbon, wine, and assorted beers. Max wore a beautiful white princess dress while Sam had chosen a simple blue dress that looked a lot like the one I wore to my wedding.
I greeted everyone as the arrived: Mom and Dad, Jake and Eve, Cassandra and her husband Timothy, Greg and Marie, Natalie, Wes, Carrie, Zoe, and most of the other agents from Bancroft Sports. I’d also invited the other trainers and a couple of the players I was closest to. It was the perfect mix of people to begin filling our house with love.
“I’ve got this. You go find your husband,” Eve assured me. She was arranging the sparklers.
“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.” Roman had hitched a ride to work that morning with Marie. He had no idea that the reason she’d suggested the carpool was so that I could pick him up from work in the Cobra to bring him home to a party.
“I was starting to worry,” he said, dropping a kiss onto my lips before I could put the car in park. “And you’re dressed nice. Where are we off to, Beautiful?”
I was wearing a white strapless sundress and I’d made sure when he left for work that morning that he’d chosen his blue tie. It was perfect.
“It’s a surprise. Get in.” I bounced my eyebrows and threw him a sassy smile.
He jumped into the passenger seat without opening the door. “Sounds like fun.”
“Oh . . . it will be.”
He didn’t say anything when I took the bridge over to Davis Islands headed toward home. If he thought it was odd, he didn’t let it show. It wasn’t until we pulled up at the curb to all of our guests holding sparklers that he shot me a look of complete shock. “What’s this?” His eyes dropped to my white dress. He cocked an eyebrow. “June?”
“It’s time to celebrate our future.”
Our guests started cheering and yelling, “Kiss, kiss, kiss!”
&
nbsp; He grinned. “We better give them what they want.” Then he took my face in his hands and gave me a toe-curling kiss every bit as life altering as our first.
“Let’s celebrate,” I whispered as he pulled away.
“I love it. I love you.”
The food was delicious, our friends were hilarious, and the dancing was fun. Everything about the night was perfect. Roman smiled from beginning to end. I loved seeing him joke around with his colleagues. I loved even more that my dad made a special effort to get to know him.
“Can you golf with that injury?” Dad had a cigar in one hand that he waved at Roman’s bad shoulder.
“I can, but I’ve got to warn you, I’m very good.”
Dad snorted and took a puff of the cigar. “You’re on. I’ve got years on you, son.”
No one but me would have noticed the surprise on Roman’s face at the endearment. He hid it well and rolled right on with the conversation. “Exactly. I’m in my prime. If anything, the injury has allowed me to focus on my game.”
Ever the athletes.
I loved it.
“Do you miss it?” Dad asked. He meant baseball, of course.
“Do you?” Roman replied with a sigh.
Dad clapped Roman’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “We’ll always have that in common, son.”
Roman smiled sadly. “That, and June.”
Dad nodded. “It’s a good place to start.”
Yes. Yes it was.
Roman danced with Sam and Max, then he danced with me. I didn’t know it, but he’d asked the DJ to play a special song.
Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” started playing the moment he pulled me into his arms.
“You remembered,” he whispered as we swayed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do.” He pulled me closer and kissed me deep. “This is it. This is the future I saw.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Yes,” I whispered back, finding him gazing at me with so much love. “A house filled with friends, family, and a future.”
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
How could I forget that night? “I told you . . . I want the same thing.” The crowd around us watched but they couldn’t hear what we were saying. Our words were ours and ours alone. “Is it everything you hoped it would be?”
“So much more.” He dropped his forehead to mine. “I’ve never been happier than I am right now.”
The world spun a little and I clung to him tighter. “I feel the same way.” I glanced out at the party. All our friends were smiling at us, my family swayed with the music. The girls were running around with sparklers. These were the people we would build our life with. We’d share so much over the years—kids, injuries, heartache, and hope. Our lives were only going to get fuller from here on out.
“Kiss, kiss, kiss!” Max started jumping up and down beside us and the crowd quickly joined her chant.
Roman dipped me low and brushed his lips over mine. “I love you, Beautiful.”
I cupped his neck. “I love you, too.”
Many happy hours later the party wound down, but it wasn’t over. Well, technically it was over, but not all of our guests were gone. Wes was asleep facedown on our couch in the living room.
“He’s our oldest, isn’t he?”
That got Roman laughing. “Our oldest child? Probably. I guess I should have mentioned that I come with baggage.”
“I forgive you. He’s kind of adorable in a man-child kind of way.”
Zoe came clomping down the stairs with a laptop. “So . . . Carrie’s passed out in my bed. I’m taking the guest room.”
“Did I mention I come with baggage as well?” I grinned up at Roman.
“So we already have a son and a daughter.”
“And a live-in nanny.”
“We’re a very strange version of The Brady Bunch.”
I laughed at that. “It’s what you wanted, isn’t it? A house full of people who have your back?”
“It’s everything.” He glanced from Zoe slamming the guest room door to Wes snoring behind us. “It’s more than everything. It’s right.”
“Then take me to bed, husband. I want you to show me how much you love me.”
A second later I was in his arms as he carried me up the stairs and into our room. “This dress,” he carefully set me on the ground and began unzipping me, kissing each inch of skin along the way, “is quite possibly the sexiest dress I’ve ever seen.”
I laughed as his scruff tickled my skin, but gasped a moment later when he splayed his hand across my belly, pulling me into his hard body. “Sexiest, huh?” It was just a simple white dress.
“Well, for one, it has you in it.” He nibbled behind my ear, all while fumbling to get his suit off. “And for two, it gave me an eyeful of your gorgeous legs all night.” He backed me into the bed and we tumbled down.
“I didn’t know you found my legs so appealing.”
“I love your legs. Especially when they’re wrapped around me—which is what I was imagining all night.” I wrapped my legs around his hips. He hitched my thigh higher.
“You were imagining this? Me on my back with my legs wrapped around you?”
“Yes.” He kissed along my jaw and claimed my mouth.
“What else?”
“I heard you moaning my name.” He gripped my hip.
I shivered with need.
“Roman . . . ”
He closed his eyes, his jaw ticking. “You know what that does to me.”
“I do.”
He massaged my hip, breathing hard, then opened his eyes, looking deep into mine. The way he always had.
Just for me.
“Are you ready for me, Beautiful?”
I was alive from the inside out as his words washed over me. “Always.”
He flashed me one of his sexiest smiles. “Then you better hold on. We’re just getting started.”
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THANK YOU
I hope you enjoyed June and Roman’s story!
It was a pleasure to write and I’m looking forward to Wes and Carrie’s next! In the meantime, don’t forget to leave Summer Heat some love with a review!
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SUMMER HEAT
Thank you so much!
xoxo
Alexis
MORE FROM ALEXIS ANNE
THE STORM INSIDE
Reflected in the Rain
When Lightning Strikes
Never Let Go
Summer Heat
Night Games (Coming Fall 2017)
Tease
Tempt
Burn
Stripped
5 Dirty Sins
6 Dirty Secrets
7 Dirty Lies (Coming Summer 2017)
The Storm Inside Box Set
The Tease Series Box Set (Books 1-4)
The Complete List of Alexis Anne Books
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m writing these acknowledgments totally at the last second. The book files need to be uploaded two days ago. It’s that kind of book. It was written while a lot was going on in my real life and somehow the fiction and the reality wound up playing off of each other. Honestly, I love it when that happens, but that also means this little “I couldn’t have done this without these people” section is probably going to have a ton of typos! Sorry.
First off: I want to thank The Sexy Editor before I get to anyone else. Just like I wrote in this book, love is messy. Ours has certainly never been neat, but it’s also been the best adventure. We’re getting ready for a whole new one in a new city. He read pages on airplanes and spent his weekends at home taking care of everything so I could write and rest before heading back into single-parent mode during the week. Thank you for all your work on this book, your late night FaceTime ca
lls, and the coffee you always bring me when you can. <3
And really, I can’t thank Nate without also thanking our little men. They have been super independent while I finished this book and are really growing up while we transition to our new city. X even gave me a hug one afternoon and said, “I’m sorry you feel so frustrated today, Mommy. It will get better.” We’re doing something right. I couldn’t have finished this book on time without their team spirit. xoxo
Shoutout to #RMHSG. Thank you. Just . . . thank you. Especially Shari for starting it. I hope you know how special you are. Write me more poetry, please!
Quick secret shoutout to Ashlea for taking the kids. You have no idea how much that affected this book. Or how much your #team means to my #team. And now I have to put you back in the box because *moving* and I can’t have the feels right now. (This book needs to get uploaded already!)
A huge thank you to Lexi at Romanced by the Cover for prying the job of cover designer out of my totally freaked out hands. You are the only one I could trust and you did a brilliant job. I love the cover! <3
I dedicated this book to my #HBIC family because there is a strong theme in Summer Heat about finding your people and building a future together. These women are my extended family. My sisters-in-arms. We are so much more than writers who met over RWA and Twitter. We are forever merged. When I look at the future, I see you all there around the table, watching all our kids grow up, Slacking our hopes and dreams (FMF), and living in our commune. <3 I definitely wouldn’t have gotten through this book without you. I just . . . love you. Period.
Dream. Do. Dominate.
Thank you to all my readers. I love you all, too. Your emails, Facebook messages, Tweets, & Instagram comments are my favorite part of each workday. Thank you for loving my characters.
Okay. I’m going to stop now and upload this book so you can actually read it. Just know I love you all and you mean everything to me! I’ll see you on the internets!