by Alexis Anne
He bounded up and kissed me on the cheek. “Hey Zo.”
She giggled.
I led him inside the side door to where a camera crew waited.
“What’s this?” he glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes.
“Happy birthday, Wes. You’re about the have the time of your life.”
He glanced back at the camera crew, a glint of mischief in his eyes. “What have you planned, my wife?”
“The day you’ve always wanted. And I brought this crew here to film it for your channel.” Because while I didn’t fully understand everything he did with his different business ventures, I knew this channel meant a lot to him. It gave him an outlet for his crazy personality.
So I wanted him to have this because that personality was what I loved . . . even when it made me crazy, too.
“Babe. I love you.”
I kissed him once on the lips. “I love you, too. Now, go change.” I thrust a replica Babe Ruth uniform into his hands.
“Into this?” He grinned from ear to ear.
“Yep. Meet me in the tunnel in ten minutes.” He grabbed the uniform and ran down the hallway to the locker room cheering.
Zoe and I slipped into the office and changed into our matching uniforms. The same 1927 uniforms we were all wearing. I couldn’t wait to see his expression when he saw us.
He did not disappoint. “This is incredible. I feel like I’m really there. Back in the glory days.”
“Just wait. There’s more.” I took his hand and led him up to the field. The minute we appeared the crowd cheered and the organ music filled the air. It was a horribly anachronistic mishmash of all of Wes’s favorite parts of the game from the classic uniforms we were wearing from the 1920’s to the organ music from the 1940’s, to the peanuts, hot dogs, and Coca Cola bottles manufactured today.
“For the man who loves the game.” I waved at the crowd filled with our friends and some of his biggest fans. “A day of baseball nostalgia.” His teammates old and new made up the two teams, and really slugged it out over the next nine innings.
The camera crew caught everything. His friends played along with as much enthusiasm as he Wes did. The wood bats, the old gloves, the classic umpires and scoreboards . . . it was a great day for all of them. Even Wes’s dad made the trip to join in the fun.
“This has been the best day ever!” Wes yelled into the microphone after the ninth inning. Wes and Roman’s Dirt Dog bourbon was being passed around in celebration. “Thank you to everyone who came out to play. It means the world to me. And to my wife Carrie, you’re one in a million. I can’t believe you did this for me.”
He handed off the microphone and kissed me. He wrapped me up in a giant hug that lifted me off the ground as he kissed me senseless.
After that we took his pop out to dinner and then dropped him off at the hotel. I would have offered to put him up in the condo but it was a one bedroom and besides, I planned on finishing off the birthday festivities in style.
Pop wouldn’t want to hear that.
“I have one more birthday surprise, but this one is for Snickers.” The cat’s birthday was unknown so Wes always celebrated it on his birthday.
“Aw shucks. You even got Snickers a gift?”
“Well,” I hesitated. Was it really a gift? “I don’t know how much he’ll enjoy the competition for my affection.”
Wes paused and narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”
I disappeared into the laundry room and fetched the gift. “Wes, I’d like you to meet the newest member of our family. This is L.S.”
A short haired siamese bounded out of the cat carrier.
“Whoa. Hey dude.” He picked up our new pet and ruffled his fur. “Welcome to the family.”
It was love at first sight. The idea struck me a month earlier. I enjoyed Snickers but he was very much Wes’s cat. What if I had one of my own? So I started looking around. It seemed like fate that the only cat I was drawn to in any way was the one I found two days before Wes’s birthday.
But then to find out how he was named? It was like he was destined to be a member of our family.
“So what does L.S. stand for?” He let the cat go.
I picked him up and snuggled him close. “Little Shit. Apparently he’s been a pain in everyone’s ass except mine.”
Wes busted out laughing. “You’re joking. That’s really his name?”
I put my hand over my heart. “Swear it. I couldn’t make that up if I tried.”
“Little Shit. Huh. Sometimes things just come together, don’t they?”
Just like Wes and me. Fate, destiny, chance . . . I didn’t know who to blame, all I knew was that I was glad it happened.
“We can come together, if you get your sexy ass in the bedroom.” I wanted to strip him out of his vintage uniform while performing a sexy striptease with mine.
He bolted for the door. “I wouldn’t want to keep the lady waiting.”
I shut the cats out and strutted across the room, not feeling grounded or whole until my hands touched his skin. “Happy birthday, Wes.” Electric. Always electric. I unbuttoned his shirt, sliding my fingers along his skin, reveling in the ragged sounds of his breath.
“The best birthday I’ve ever had, thanks to you, Doc.” He captured my wrist and pulled my hand up to his lips for a kiss. “I love you. I promise our whole lives will be like this.”
I pushed the shirt off his strong shoulders, then began unbuttoning mine. “I don’t know. This is pretty hard to top.”
Not that I was keeping score. As long as we were following our hearts and dreams I didn’t care how big or small the score.
He grabbed my hip somewhere between my shoulder wiggle and my lip bite. “This isn’t a contest. This is love. You know what that means?”
I gasped as he lifted me against him, wrapping my naked legs around his waist. “What does it mean?”
We fell onto the bed still wrapped together. He kissed my cheek and rocked against me, lighting me up. “It means we both win.”
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Want more? Turn the page to read a sample from When Lightning Strikes! Or if you’re all caught up on The Storm Inside series, scroll on to read an excerpt from Tease!
THE STORM INSIDE SERIES
THE TEASE SERIES
THANK YOU
I hope you enjoyed Carrie and Wes’s story!
It was a pleasure to write and I’m looking forward to more! In the meantime, don’t forget to leave Night Games some love with a review!
Thank you so much!
xoxo
Alexis
EXCERPT FROM WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES
When Lightning Strikes (Storm Inside #3)
GREG AND MARIE
Thank fuck. I thought she’d left last night. In fact, I remembered her leaving pretty damn clearly. But she was here—so soft. I pulled her closer and pushed my nose into her hair. Marie smelled good. It was weird how I’d never really noticed how women smelled before (unless it was some seriously obnoxious perfume), but with Marie it was like a blaring red sign. It was as much a part of her as the way she laughed and moaned.
And damn…those moans were gold.
My dick twitched to life and my hips automatically flexed towards her warmth—except there was nothing. No warmth, no body to press against. My eyes flew open and I stared at the grey pillow I was hugging like my life depended on it.
I’d dreamt my fucking pillow was Marie. Yeah…that could not be good. She’d definitely left an impression on me. I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. Her scent was everywhere. It was on me, on the pillows and sheets…I was going to have to call Sally and have the apartment cleaned earlier than usual.
This was exactly why I never
brought women home. It wasn’t nearly as clean a break as when we parted ways somewhere much more anonymous. Now I was going to smell her until Monday.
And remember the way she bit her lip in my doorway, looking strangely vulnerable despite being fairly kickass every other moment I’d known her. I’d remember the way she looked writhing on my sheets while I—
Okay. Maybe I needed to buy new sheets.
Yeah. I was going to go buy new sheets today. That would take care of most of my problem.
I decided it was smarter to shower and then run, so by the time I actually got out on the road it was warmer than usual. I texted Eve to ask where I should buy these new sheets I suddenly needed, and somehow that turned into a ten-minute phone call.
“Why do you sound out of breath?”
“Because I’m running.”
“Why are you talking on the phone while you’re running? Shouldn’t you be running?”
“Thank you Captain Obvious. That was why I texted you in the first place.”
She sighed, grumbling something about how a full-grown man should know where to buy sheets. “I just assumed if I was getting a text on a Saturday morning, requesting advice on fucking sheet shopping, that there had to be a story to go along with it.”
I didn’t reply.
“So there is a story…” she drawled.
I still didn’t answer. I knew it wasn’t going to get me anywhere, but I still held out a little hope Eve would let it drop.
“Tell me the fucking story!” she finally yelled into the phone.
I yanked my ear buds out and popped my ears. “Thanks for fucking blowing out my eardrums.” I stopped at the corner and carefully put them back in. “Could you possibly talk without making me deaf?”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“Story.”
“Fuck.”
She giggled. “You know we each owe Jake a drink now, right?”
“Fuck it.” Jake was sick of hearing us both say “fuck” all the time so he’d imposed a drink rule. Every time we said it more than two times in a conversation we had to buy him a drink. It was fucking stupid and annoying as shit. And the bastard had gotten at least a bottle of liquor out of each of us in the last month. “Fine.” I started down the next street and took a deep breath. There was only one person I’d ever be this girly and honest with, and that was Eve. “I met someone two nights ago. I offered to give her an orgasm, she turned me down.”
“So you shredded your sheets in misery?”
“No.” I replied flatly. “I went out to dinner last night with Chuck and the guys.”
“She was there?” Eve gasped.
“Yep.”
“And she didn’t say no twice?” Her voice went up a few octaves with each word in the sentence.
“No she didn’t.”
And then there was the gasp I was expecting as she put two-and-two together. “Wait…you took her home?” And then her voice dropped to a whisper. “Is she still there?”
“Of course not. But yes, I took her back to my place, thus the need for new sheets.”
“What kind of crazy sex did you two have? I mean, Jake and I have crazy sex, but we don’t need new sheets every time.”
I gagged thinking about my best friend and his wife doing it. Jake was like my brother and Eve was essentially the sister I never had. Thinking about them having sex was as gross as thinking about my parents doing it. “Thanks for the visual.”
“What? We’re adults. We can talk about this stuff.”
“Maybe I’m not nearly as evolved as you are.”
“Whatever,” she sighed. “Don’t you have a spare set you can use?”
“Have you seen my condo? Do I look like the kind of guy who keeps coordinating sheets around for the hell of it? Sally washes them once a week while she’s here. I don’t need a second set.”
“Says you,” she grumbled. “So you met someone who actually made you stop and think for a few seconds and now you need to exorcise her from your condo. Bed, Bath & Beyond at the mall should have what you need. I’d offer to help, but I need to have crazy sex with my husband.” There was a squeal in the background and the sound of Jake’s voice in the distance as Eve’s giggle disappeared from the line.
I was always a little jealous of those two. They had fun together, they understood each other. I was really happy for both of them, but sometimes I got that same ache in my chest that I got when I thought about Jenn. I was having it right then, so I ran faster.
It didn’t help the ache.
I got back home and jumped in the shower for the second time that morning. As the water beat my shoulder muscles, I did what I knew I had to do. I let myself remember Jenn. I’d fought it as hard and as long as I could, and I’d lost again. Not that I minded losing, but sometimes the pain was overwhelming.
We would have both been thirty-six this year. It would have been our fourteenth wedding anniversary if we’d made it to our wedding date. We might have had kids.
It was the “would have’s” and “might of’s” that always broke me.
She deserved to live a full life, instead it was cut short.
I studied the scar on my wrist as the water washed over it, almost making it invisible.
Almost, but not quite.
Just like Jenn. She was almost invisible to me most days, but never gone. She was always there, and she always would be.
I’d made so many choices as a reaction to the night our car ended up wrapped around a tree. I’d run away and spent most of my adult life in the desert. I’d hidden from friendships and both of our families.
Until I met Jake. It was the first time I’d met someone more screwed up, more in love, and more regretful than me. He fascinated me. But there was something else. I could see his life so clearly. I knew what he needed to do, and how easy it would be for him to do it, even though he couldn’t see it for himself. It seemed so dumb to me—until I realized he was me. I couldn’t see my own life or the choices I had in front of me, either.
We were equally blinded by our regrets and doubts. I wasn’t ready to help myself, but I knew I could help him. I took Jake under my wing and helped him in all the ways I wasn’t ready to face my own life yet. Call it “living vicariously” if you will.
And then I met this woman who was the love of Jake’s life and fell in love with her, too. Not in the same way—I wasn’t attracted to Eve or romantically in love with her. But we instantly bonded over our shared love for Jake. We both wanted him to have a good life, and as we banded together to help him, I found a little bit of happiness for myself.
Jake and Eve were kind of my fantasy. I could look at them and imagine what my life might have been like if Jenn hadn’t died. We would be happily married. We would have an enormous library in our house. We would be thinking about the future.
I think I’d gravitated toward them—and stayed here in Tampa even after they got married—for that reason. I loved Eve like a sister, but I also loved that she reminded me of Jenn when we were kids. Not just the books, but the attitude. Eve always called me on my shit and could keep up with me in conversations—just like Jenn.
So, in a strange way, I loved having Eve in my life because she was a constant reminder of the good times. It kind of helped keep the happy memories alive.
It was the bad memories I kept avoiding. And those were the ones that were haunting me now.
I finished up in the shower and hoped my short walk down memory lane would be enough to get me through the rest of the weekend. The ache in my chest was still there, but it was fading. I made my trip to the mall for new sheets and threw away my old ones.
I didn’t even want to wash them. I never wanted to see them again. I had enough trouble with memories; I didn’t need sheets reminding me of yet another woman.
Then I watched some baseball while working in front of the television. It was getting dark before I realized I needed food for dinner. As usual it had slipped my mind to do any
grocery shopping for the weekend.
Maybe I needed to start having Sally do my shopping, too. Domestically, I was apparently a complete lost cause. I didn’t know where to buy sheets and I couldn’t be trusted to buy food.
I grabbed my keys and headed out the door.
Greg and Wes are the president and vice president of the Assholes With a Heart of Gold club, so if you enjoyed Night Games you know you need to read When Lightning Strikes!
Get When Lightning Strikes now!
Or grab The Storm Inside Box Set and get the entire series so you can binge read them all at once!
MORE FROM ALEXIS ANNE
THE STORM INSIDE
Reflected in the Rain
When Lightning Strikes
Never Let Go
Summer Heat
Night Games
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
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TEASE
When two protected hearts find safety and undeniable chemistry in a fling with a hard expiration date, sparks fly.
Tease
Welcome to Calhoun Beach, a sleepy beach town on the shores of South Carolina, filled with history…and secrets. Dr. Elizabeth Filler has carefully built a quiet life away from prying eyes. She doesn’t trust anyone and the last thing she’s looking for is love. Adam Callaway is Calhoun Beach’s prodigal son home for a two week vacation. He’s spent his life keeping his boundaries up and avoiding two family legacies…and he just might be the only person who can understand Elizabeth’s complicated past.
Tempt
When Elizabeth’s best friend Allison Riley heads to London in search of a leg up in her career, the last thing she expects is to stumble into the city’s most mysterious and eligible bachelor. Theo Sutherland has spent his life trying to make up for the sins of his past, but when the beautiful American dances into his arms and sees right past his walls, he is forced to decide whether he wants to continue paying for his mistakes, or finally find a way to move forward…and fall in love. Read it now!