Out of My League, Part 2

by Cummin, Sharon

  “Whose ass do I need to kick?” Lance asked sternly, as he pulled her in for a hug.

  “You're funny, but I'm fine,” Cassie said. “I'm going to go sit down.”

  There was no smile on her face, as she walked over to the same set of bleachers she had before and sat down. She knew I was there, I knew she did, but she didn't even bother to look my way. It took all I had not to say something to her, but I didn't, not with Lance there. I wanted to turn around and walk away, but I couldn't. Both of her kids were right there waiting for me to play, and I couldn't turn them away. Her head was down, but I could see her looking up at me through the hairs that had fallen in her face.

  “You want Uncle Lance to play with you?” Lance asked, as he walked over.

  “No,” Jenny said. “Parker.”

  “What?” he asked in a shocked tone, as he bent down and began tickling Jenny with one hand and Jeff with the other. “You have to be kidding me.”

  Jillian came over, and we all began playing together. I had my back to the bleachers, but I could feel Cassie's eyes on me. I bent down behind Jenny and held her hand with the ball in it. When I pulled it back and then pushed it forward, releasing the ball, sending it flying, Lance barked out with a laugh.

  “Come on, Pete. Don't teach her how to throw like that. She's my niece, remember?”

  When I heard the burst of laughter come from the bleachers behind me, I turned fast, and my eyes went right to hers. Cassie's hand flew up and covered her mouth. My eyes narrowed, and I didn't give two shits who was there when I growled out.

  “What's so funny, princess?”

  Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head quickly. My steps were huge, as I stomped toward her. I could see in her eyes that she was doing everything she could to fight back her laughter. It was taking all I had not to laugh just watching her, but I held my shit together. I knew exactly why she was laughing. I'd seen that same reaction before many times, and normally it pissed me the fuck off, but something about watching her was different. It made me want to laugh right along with her, but she didn't need to know that.

  “What is so funny, princess?” I stretched each word out in a deep, rough tone, as I looked right into her eyes.

  “Your name is Pete?” she said as more of a question while squeezing her eyes closed and breaking our connection.

  “It is,” I answered, as if I had no idea what it even meant to her.

  “So, I guess your last name is Parker,” she said with a little giggle she couldn't hold in.

  “Seriously,” I snapped. “Are you five?”

  “No,” she said nervously. “I just.”

  I didn't let her finish.

  “Are you seriously sitting there laughing at my name, princess?” I asked sternly.

  “I'm sorry,” she said, trying to put on a straight face but failing miserably as a smile slowly crossed her face.

  It actually made me feel good for a moment to know that I somehow caused that smile. Something was going on with her. I wasn't sure what it was, and I didn't dare ask Sammie or James. I was pretty sure it had something to do with her husband and possibly her parents as well.

  She sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and bit down. It was honestly taking all she had not to laugh again. I slowly leaned down close to her ear so only she could hear me.

  “You know it's my teeth you want wrapped around that lip,” I whispered into her ear. “Keep fucking with me, and you're going to find out exactly how that feels.”

  She let out a breath, and her body shook. I felt that shit. There was no way I could miss it. When I pulled back, I looked down to see her thighs clenched tight. My eyes went back to her face. All humor had left her. I leaned back in a bit.

  “I've heard every joke there is about my name, princess,” I said with a smirk, before using a tone filled with warning and promise. “You will call me Parker. If you even think about calling me anything else, you should also think long and hard about the consequences to that action, and there will be consequences.”

  I moved to take a step back. If I didn't, I was going to grab her hard and kiss her even harder. I needed to get away from her. Jenny was right there, blocking me from moving away. She looked up at me with the most serious look on her face.

  “Is your name Pete?” she asked.

  “It is,” I said, giving her my full attention, but not missing that Cassie could still feel my words on her.

  “I thought it was Parker,” Jenny said. “Even mommy said it was.”

  “Oh yeah,” I said, curious to see what else Jenny would say.

  “Yep,” she said. “She said it while she was sleeping, more than one time.”

  “Did she?” I asked. “She said my name in her sleep.”

  “Yep,” Jenny answered. “Oh well.”

  Then the little girl turned and took off back toward Lance. My eyes moved slowly over to Cassie, and the moment our eyes connected, I noticed her cheeks turning more red by the second.

  “Were you dreaming about me, princess?” I asked, as my tongue came out of my mouth and slid from one corner of my lips to the other.

  “What?” she asked, her tone totally betraying her. “No! Of course not. No way! I would never.”

  Without even finishing her sentence, she stood up and took off toward the front door of the place, leaving me standing there with my cock rock hard. I knew I needed to walk away. I needed to go back out on the field and get back to what I'd been doing before, but I couldn't do it. Without thinking twice about it, my ass took off out that very same door she'd just gone through. I didn't care who saw me. That shit didn't matter. The only thing that mattered in that moment was getting to her. I knew I was making a huge mistake. If it had been anyone but me, I would have grabbed them by the back of their shirt and talked some sense into them. It was like I could see it all happening, in slow motion, to someone else, but there was no way I could stop it.

  Chapter 4

  Cassie

  So much for him not being there. I didn't look back as I took off out that front door and around the side of the building. There was no way I wanted Lance or Sammie asking anything about what they might have heard in there. I leaned back against the building, took a deep breath in, released it as slowly as I could, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes.

  I'd known he was there as soon as I walked in, I felt it. Then I looked over to find him on his back with the two girls laughing away on top of him. When Lance made those comments, it only reminded me that I'd gone there looking like total shit. My hair was just plopped on top of my head, and my face was free of all makeup. I couldn't tell you the last time I'd left home looking that raw and real. Home, I thought. Was it home? It was Sammie and James' home, but it wasn't mine. Shit! I squeezed my eyes tighter and Parker's wicked grin popped into my mind. When he'd said those words, the ones about me calling him Parker and the warning that came with them, I honestly could have come on the spot. How sad was that? Just the sound of his rough warning, so close to my ear, had me ready to grab the back of his head and kiss him. It didn't help that he'd tasted so damn good in my dream. That only made it worse. I was still envisioning exactly what he'd do if I called him Pete when Jenny threw my ass under the bus. She told him I'd said his name in my sleep. Then she added that I'd done it more than once. The way that sexy smirk stretched from one side of his face to the other had me wanting to either smack the shit out of him or call him Pete a million times. I'd never felt that way before, not ever. I honestly felt like I was in high school, as I pictured myself saying his name over and over again just to see what he would do.

  There was no getting out of it. I could have denied saying it all I wanted, but it wouldn't have mattered. The asshole wouldn't have believed me, and he wasn't going to let it go. I could tell that from the cocky look that covered his face before he spoke.

  “Were you dreaming about me, princess?” he asked.

  My eyes were glued to his tongue when he licked those damn lips from on
e side to the other. I could have sworn that time had stopped and that the tiny trail his tongue made had taken an entire hour. It had been years since a man had me clenching my thighs in real life, but Parker had managed it more than once in just a few short minutes.

  “Shit!” I let out, as I leaned my head back into the rough brick of the building behind me.

  I was so relieved that night Jenny climbed into bed without saying a thing about it. I'd kept it all in my dream. I hadn't said it out loud. That was what I'd thought anyway. Embarrassment hit me all over again, and I was so damn glad there wasn't anyone there to see my cheeks change shades of red a second time. What if Sammie or Lance had heard her? What if she brought it up again later? The questions started flying through my mind. What would that look like? Jeff was a cheater. There was no way I wanted to look like one too. That dream was before our talk. It was before I knew, positively, that I didn't want him back. It was also after I found him with her and after I'd left him. I hadn't done anything wrong. Jeff was the wrong one. We were over. There was no way I could ever look at him and feel love again. I'd done nothing wrong. It was just a dream.

  “Fuck, Cassie,” I whispered. “It was a damn dream.”

  “Was it?” the soft whisper broke through the silence.

  My eyes popped open, and I quickly pushed off of the wall I'd been using to hold myself up.

  “It was,” I replied, as I tried my best to sound confident and not like a needy mess.

  He took a step toward me, and I stood strong.

  “What did I do in your dream, princess?” he asked in a sexy tone that had my knees going weak.

  He didn't give me time to answer before he took another step forward and continued.

  “Did I take that bottom lip between my teeth before opening that sexy mouth to me and fucking it with my tongue?” he asked, and my body shivered.

  When his lips curved into a smile and I watched his eyes darken, it took all I had not to reach for him. The look on his face had me wanting something, anything. For a moment, he made me feel desired. Then I remembered how I looked and that feeling quickly faded. I heard a low growl escape him, and he stepped toward me again, leaving only an inch or so of space between us.

  “Did I do more than kiss you, princess?” he asked. The tone in his voice felt so innocent but so dirty at the same time. “What really happened in that dream of yours? Did I get down on my knees with my mouth between those sexy legs, or did I bend you over and fuck you nice and slow?”

  The moan escaped me before I even knew it was coming. The rumble in his chest told me I wasn't the only one feeling something.

  “Princess,” he said, as his eyes closed for just a second.

  “Yes,” I whispered, as our eyes connected again.

  “Fuck it,” he hissed, before taking another step forward and taking away the only space that was left between us.

  His hand came up and gripped the back of my neck, as his mouth came down on mine. His lips were so soft and warm against mine. It was the exact opposite of the man I'd met those few times. When his tongue came out and traced my lips, desire and need shot through me. He grabbed my bottom lip between his teeth and pulled it down. The gasp that left me opened my mouth even more. When his tongue dove in for mine, his body moved forward, slamming mine into the brick behind me. My hands moved back to hold the wall, to stay connected to the world around us. His tongue moved against mine, and he held total control of my mouth. The way his body felt against mine had my knees going weak and my legs giving out. He pushed his hips forward, keeping me from going down and giving me the opportunity to feel just how hard and ready he was. My hips moved forward on their own. I wanted to get closer to him. He kissed me so deep and with such passion that I honestly forgot where I was. The feeling of his tongue wrapping around mine had me moaning into his mouth. Just as my hands moved from the wall and began sliding from his waist up the front of his body, he took a step back, causing us both to gasp for air and me to reach back and grip the wall to prevent myself from falling. My eyes found his, and I watched something change in him. I couldn't explain it if I had to, but something had happened. He took another step back and pulled his eyes away from mine, breaking our connection.

  “Was it better in real life?” he asked in a cocky tone.

  There I was, standing there, holding the wall for support and practically panting. My fingers moved to my lips as I gave him a slight nod.

  Without another word, he turned and walked away. He was supposed to suck. His kisses were supposed to be sloppy and gross in real life. That was what I'd wanted anyway, but that wasn't what I'd gotten. The feeling that ripped through my chest, as I watched his retreating back, hurt like you wouldn't believe. It wasn't desire that filled him. He hadn't wanted me. All he'd wanted was for me to admit that I'd had a dream about him and that he kissed better when I was awake than when I was asleep. He'd followed me out there and rocked my world just to prove a damn point.

  “Asshole,” I yelled, as I watched him turn the corner, leaving me completely alone again.

  Chapter 5

  Parker

  It took all I had to walk away from her. In that moment, I wanted to do so much more than just kiss her. I shouldn't have even done that. I couldn't believe how damn good it felt having her lips against mine. When her hands touched me, it brought me back to reality like a cold shower. I pulled away quickly. Shit! There was no way I wanted to piss off the Reids or the Smiths. They were crazy when it came to family. I couldn't just walk away though. That would be a dick move. Before I thought about it, I blurted out the first thing that popped into my mind.

  “Was it better in real life?” I asked. Damn! That wasn't a dick move at all, I thought, as I silently scolded myself.

  Seeing her against that wall, trying to hold herself up after just one kiss, told me everything I needed to know, but I waited for her answer anyway. I didn't think it was possible, but the second her fingers moved across her plump, sexy lips and she nodded, my cock hardened even more.

  I had to get away from her. If I'd stood there a moment longer, her jeans would have been around her knees, and she would have been bent over against that very same wall. My feet couldn't get me away fast enough, but I didn't miss the word asshole fly through the air behind me. The woman was enough to drive me insane, and she was the exact kind of woman I was trying to avoid. Cassie wasn't a quick fuck. She couldn't be. I had to stay away from her. She was one of Lance's, and I'd seen first hand what it looks like when you fuck with one of his. James was the perfect example. When Lance found out about him and Sammie, he broke his damn nose. I wasn't and would never be in for the long haul, not with Cassie or anyone else, and I needed my nose exactly as it was. I knew all of that, yet not one bit of it stopped me from wondering what was going through that pretty head of hers as I walked away. It also couldn't stop me from thinking about getting that same reaction again.

  When I walked back inside to get back to Lance and the kids, Lauren looked at me with a huge smile on her face. When had she come in, I wondered?

  “Parker,” Jackson called out, as he came running over. “Will you play catch with me?”

  “Of course,” I said, as I walked right by his mom without another word.

  What was that about, I wondered? It was nothing. Lauren always had a smile on her face. She was another good one. Those damn guys were all lucky. It was actually a little aggravating at times.

  When Cassie came back in, I made sure not to look at her. She's close to Lance, and that fucker is crazy, I repeated in my mind anytime I even considered looking her way. I needed to keep my head right where it belonged. There was already way too much going on in my life to add her to the equation. I was pretty sure she wasn't looking my way either. If she was, it would have been with daggers, not admiration. Not to mention, I would have felt that shit, I always did. It was the weirdest thing.

  Chapter 6

  Cassie

  The next two weeks had me on pins and needl
es. I hadn't told them that I'd met up with Jeff, and I wasn't any closer to knowing what I was going to do. It wasn't like I could talk it through with anyone. They all had an opinion when it came to him, and not one of them was good. Why bring it up if it wouldn't change anything? So, I kept it to myself, and it was driving me crazy.

  I also couldn't stop thinking of Parker. Pete, I thought and couldn't stop the smile that came to the surface. The thought of his name seemed to be the only thing bringing me any joy. It wasn't his name as much as his reaction to his name. Every time I thought about it, that damn kiss and his naughty words popped into my mind, and I'd find myself thinking about him in a whole different way. That was not the way I needed to be thinking either. He was a cocky asshole that I needed to stay as far away from as possible. I already had more than enough on my plate. Adding him to it would have been an enormous mistake. Enormous, I thought. Was he? He felt pretty damn big pressed against me. Shit!

  I'd been to Sammie's place a few times in those two weeks, and Parker hadn't been there once. Lauren and Jackson had gone with us each time. I heard her ask Sammie a few times where Parker was, and I couldn't help the jealous feeling that came over me when she did. There was no missing how head over heels in love she was with her husband. Not to mention, she was having his baby. Their house was almost ready. That was all they talked about, and poor Jackson couldn't wait. All he wanted was a tree house, but he couldn't get that until their real house was ready. They were a very happy family, so there was no reason for me to feel anything when she asked about Parker, but I did. Ugh!

  Jeff had given me a deadline, and that deadline was up. His meeting, the whole reason he'd wanted me there, had passed, and I still hadn't heard from him. I couldn't help but wonder if he'd taken her instead. He'd assured me she was gone, but I wasn't sure what to believe. I knew he was going to do something. He wasn't going to let it go. The old Jeff might have, but not the new one, whoever he was. I found myself checking my phone often for messages and even looking out the windows to make sure his car wasn't parked outside, but there was nothing.