Baseball and Other Lessons (Devil's Ranch Book 2)

by Aubrey Gross

  “Did you really just say ‘follow the narrative’?”

  Matt sighed. “Yes, I did. I find it hilarious everyone seems to forget I was an English major.”

  “I wasn’t aware many people knew that.”

  He shrugged. “They don’t. But that’s beside the point. My point is, we need to get ahead of the count here and spin this our way rather than letting Heather take the lead. We also need to show proof of the restraining order.”

  Darrin fell silent again, but Matt could hear the tap tap tap of fingers against a hard surface. “Your idea has merit, I’ll give you that. I also agree that getting ahead of the count would serve us well in this situation, not only for your reputation but also for your privacy. That being said, I don’t know how far back we could go with this story, considering the song you were dancing to is a fairly new one.”

  He hadn’t even paid attention to the song, had just been fascinated by Jenn and had needed to get close to her in whatever way possible. “How new?”

  “Hold on, let me Google it.”

  Matt waited as Darrin worked his search engine magic.

  “Okay, I’m back. It’s not quite as new as I thought. Looks like it was released back in January so I think we should be able to spin this.”

  Matt breathed a sigh of relief and his muscles began to relax. “Thank God.”

  “I have to ask, though, who is she?”

  And just like that, Matt tensed back up. “Who’s who?”

  “The cute redhead you’re dancing with in the video.”

  “Are you asking as my agent or as my friend?”

  “Both. As your agent I want to know about any possible problems that might pop up. As your friend I’m curious about the woman you’re trying to protect.”

  Considering Darrin was probably the only person in the world who really knew him, Matt didn’t even try to hide the truth. “She’s someone I’ve owed an apology to for a very, very long time.”

  Darrin’s sharp inhalation was unmistakable. “Wait a second. Is that San Antonio girl?”

  Darrin was also the only person Matt had ever told about that night, mostly because he’d been drunk off his ass one night about five years ago and had been feeling maudlin and nostalgic. “Yes, it is.”

  “Holy shit, man. Okay. I’m going to run with your idea and see what we can do legally regarding Heather. I’m also going to see about pulling that video. In the meantime, try to stay out of bars, alright?”

  Matt relaxed again. “I’ll try.”

  “And don’t fuck this up with San Antonio girl again.”

  Matt turned, caught Jenn watching him and smiled. “I don’t plan on it, D.”

  He ended the call and walked back over to the patio.

  “Everything alright?” Chase asked.

  Matt smiled as he sat across from Jenn. “Fine. Darrin just had some stuff he needed to talk to me about.”

  “On a Saturday night?” Jo asked.

  He shrugged and met Jenn’s worried gaze. “You know how it is, no rest for the weary and all that.”

  She gave him a little half smile, but he could tell she was still worried. “Everything’s good. No worries. Anyway. How’s the fish?” he asked as he reached for the platter of what was probably now-cold fish.

  Everyone murmured sounds of appreciation, but his gaze remained fixed on Jenn. He gave her a reassuring smile, waited until everyone’s attention was elsewhere and mouthed to her, “Later.”

  She nodded her head, smiled and went back to her salad as Matt thought about the fact that in just twenty-four hours they’d gone from Jenn hurling insults at him to worrying about him. The obvious concern on her face—for him—caused a slight pang somewhere in the vicinity of his heart. Idly, he rubbed his chest, wondering if she would ever stop making him feel like he was on the craziest rollercoaster ride of his life.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “So do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Rene asked as soon as Jenn answered the phone.

  Jenn closed her eyes and sighed. “Lay it on me, Rene. Give me the bad news first.”

  She sensed her friend’s hesitation before the other woman finally said, “Well, the bad news is that the YouTube video went viral yesterday.”

  “Seriously?” Why hadn’t Matt told her? Unless he didn’t know, but he was constantly on Facebook and Twitter—he would know if it had gone viral. Then again, he’d barely touched his phone yesterday and last night, except for that one call from Darrin.

  “Seriously.”

  “So what’s the good news?”

  “The good news is that it was mysteriously taken down this morning and there’s some chick on Twitter bitching about it. Apparently she’d started bragging yesterday about the video, sending the link to media outlets and telling them the woman in the video was her and that she could give them an exclusive as to how Matt Roberts is doing and where he’s been hiding.”

  Is this real life, or is this just fantasy?

  Jenn groaned. “Do you know what the chick’s name was?”

  Rene made a dismissive sound. “Heather something or other. She sounds like a total flake.”

  Jenn collapsed back onto her bed and threw an arm over her eyes. “I cannot believe that bitch just popped back up.”

  “Wait. You know this woman?”

  “I wouldn’t say I know her. I know of her, and I’ve had a run-in with her in the past. Long story short, she’s not a nice person and Matt’s had a restraining order against her for like the past nine years or so.”

  Rene whistled low. “Girl. I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself involved with, but this is almost as good as Grey’s Anatomy re-runs.”

  “I don’t know if there’s a TV show on the planet that could compare to the weird mess that is my life right now.” Or, y’know, the weird mess your life has been for the past ten years.

  “So I have to ask…”

  “No.”

  “You didn’t even let me ask!”

  “Because I totally knew where you were going with that.”

  “Where’d you think I was going?”

  Jenn sighed. “You were going to ask me if I’ve slept with him.”

  “I was just going to ask if you’d kissed him.”

  “Bullshit,” Jenn laughed.

  Rene tried to feign hurt, but then dissolved into laughs of her own. “Damn, you do know me too well. I take that as a no, you haven’t slept with him or a no, you’re not talking about it?”

  “How about ‘it’s a really complicated situation’?”

  “Girl, I told you, this is better than a Grey’s re-run.”

  “You’re just bored is all.”

  “Damn straight I am. I have to live vicariously through someone these days.”

  Jenn rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure I’m the one you should be living vicariously through.”

  “Girl, you’re sleeping with a super hot baseball star. I am so living vicariously through you.”

  “I am not sleeping with him!” she exclaimed—loudly—just seconds before hearing her doorbell.

  “Ooh. Booty call?”

  “Are you for real?” she asked Rene as she climbed out of bed and padded towards the living room.

  “I am so for real. Please tell me it’s McBaseball at your door, looking all hot and like he wants to ravish you.”

  Jenn stopped in the middle of her living room and whispered into her phone, “McBaseball? Really? How many Grey’s Anatomy re-runs have you watched this summer?”

  “All of them. Every. Single. One.”

  “My God you need a life.”

  “Like I said, I’m totally living vicariously through you.”

  Jenn reached the door, looked through the peephole.It was indeed McBaseball—erm, Matt—at her door. She smiled and opened the door. Matt stood there, smiling back at her and Jenn said, “Hey, Rene? I’m gonna let you go.”

  She could hear her friend yelling something about ravishing and baseball as she
pulled the phone away from her ear. She tapped on “end,” and stepped aside to let Matt in.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt your call.”

  She closed the door behind him. “It’s okay. Besides, you had no way of knowing I was on the phone anyway.”

  Said phone dinged in her hands. Jenn glanced down at the screen. There was a text message from Rene telling her to “Jump all over that and get you some.” Jenn shut down her phone. The last thing she needed was more suggestive text messages from her very married, suddenly inappropriate friend.

  “So what’s up?” she asked once her phone had shut down.

  Matt shrugged, his hands tucked into the back pockets of his jeans, causing his faded Wranglers’ Championship tee to stretch across his chest. Her mouth watered.

  “Nothing, really. The sex bunnies were going at it again this morning—loudly, I might add—so I decided to get out of there and stop torturing myself.”

  “Sex bunnies?”

  A corner of his mouth twitched upwards. “I figure they’re going at it like rabbits these days, might as well give them a cute nickname.”

  Jenn shook her head. “Sex bunnies. Well, I have to say I’m glad they’re doing so well. They’ve been in love with each other since we were kids, so it’s about time.”

  He rocked back on his heels. “I’m going to have to get that entire story at some point.”

  “I would tell you, except it’s not my story to tell. Let’s just say we all do dumb things when we’re young and hurting.”

  “Fair enough. I can’t say I haven’t done some stupid stuff, so I’m the last one to cast stones.”

  “Like I said, we’ve all done something stupid at one point or another.”

  He moved towards her, closing the gap between them. He removed his hands from his back pockets and brought one up so he could tuck an errant curl behind her ear. “I don’t know if I can say ‘I’m sorry’ enough.”

  He cupped her cheek with his palm and Jenn closed her eyes. “You don’t have to keep apologizing, Matt. We both did dumb things.”

  “Yeah, but you’re the one who bore the brunt of the hurt.”

  Jenn opened her eyes and mimicked him, cupping his cheek with her hand. Despite the fact that it was ten in the morning stubble already scraped against the sensitive skin of her palm, causing heat to pool in her belly. “I’m strong, Matt. I got through it okay.”

  “I know.” He closed his eyes and nodded his head once before opening them again. “I know that. I just wish I’d done things differently is all.”

  “Woulda, coulda, shoulda. I wish I’d handled things differently, too. Friday night, though? I feel like I finally put the past behind me, Matt, so let’s not go there again, okay?”

  He nodded and gave her a small, uncertain smile. “Okay. The past is in the past. Kind of. I have something I need to tell you first.”

  “Is it about the YouTube video and Heather?”

  He dropped his hand. “How’d you know?”

  Jenn waved her phone in the air. “That was my friend Rene, the one who told me about the video in the first place. She’d called to let me in on the latest gossip, and I put two and two together and figured that’s what Darrin had called you about last night.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be okay? You’re the one who’s apparently still being stalked by Psycho Barbie.”

  Matt threw back his head and laughed. “I think I’m going to have to share that one with Darrin.”

  “Feel free. At any rate, she told me the video went viral yesterday, that Heather’s claiming she was the woman in the video and that as of this morning it had suddenly disappeared.”

  “That’s the condensed version, yes. I needed to tell you about the statement Darrin’s sending to media outlets, though.”

  Jenn grabbed his hand and led him to the couch, where they sat and she snuggled up to him. Matt slung an arm around her shoulders and she rested her head on his chest. It was everything she could do to not turn her head and breathe him in. The man smelled so freaking good.

  She must have made some sort of sound, because Matt shifted slightly and said, “Okay, let’s talk about this statement before you completely distract me.”

  She could feel herself blush, but couldn’t hide the pleased smile that curved her lips. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to distract you.”

  “You always distract me,” he practically growled. Her ovaries quivered.

  She looked up at him, and the look on his face was intent, like he’d zeroed in on her and had pushed everything else out of his brain. She’d somehow forgotten about his single-minded focus.

  It had served him well on the mound and in bed. The thought made her nipples tighten and wetness to pool between her thighs.

  A strangled sound escaped her throat and she pushed up onto her knees, swung around so she straddled him and claimed his mouth with hers. Matt’s arms tightened around her briefly before his hands began to roam over and claim her body.

  Oh, God, she so wanted to be claimed by him.

  She moaned and pressed against him, could feel the hard length of him behind the zipper of his jeans surging and pressing against her core, and she wiggled her hips. Delicious friction arched through her body, and she rotated her hips again and his fingers dug into her ass. Their tongues tangled and dueled, caressed and seduced as she ground against him, no longer in control of her body’s movements.

  The lace of her panties scraped against her clit with every movement. Jenn wiggled closer, wanting nothing more than to climb inside of Matt. Anything to release this wanting, needing ache.

  He tore his mouth away from hers and groaned. “Jenn. If you don’t stop…”

  She rested her forehead against his. “Can’t. Stop.”

  Jenn sought his mouth again, swallowed another groan from him as the pressure gathered, coiled tight and built higher, higher, higher. Matt’s fingers dug into her flesh, and the thought that she was going to have handprints on her ass tomorrow briefly flew through her mind until that thought spiraled down, low, low, low where it coiled and tightened before exploding.

  She moaned against his mouth as her muscles continued to spasm, feeling satisfied but empty. The thought left her suddenly sad. As much as she wanted to crawl inside of Matt, she probably wanted him inside of her more.

  As her movements stilled his grip on her ass loosened and their kiss turned more languorous and exploratory rather than explosive. Jenn’s hands drifted down his chest, and when they reached the button of his jeans she scooted back enough to work it free.

  “Jenn…”

  “Shh.” She placed a quick kiss on his lips. “I got mine. Fair’s fair.”

  He kept his hands on her hips as she unbuttoned and then unzipped the denim. She looked down. His blue boxer briefs were wet and the fabric darkened against the head of his dick. She smiled and looked back up at him as she slid the cotton over and down until he sprang free, and smiled at his hard swallow when she grasped him in her hand.

  He was bigger than she remembered. Hard, thick and hot as she caressed his cock. He flexed his hips. “I don’t know how long I’m going to last.”

  “That’s okay.”

  She continued to pump her fist up and down his length as he flexed his hips. Their harsh breaths were the only sounds in the house. Her muscles clenched again at the thought.

  This man is going to be the death of me.

  His fingers tightened on her hips as his dick stiffened and surged in her hand. She watched his face as he came all over her hand, the sensation weirdly erotic.

  After long moments Matt’s body relaxed beneath hers, and he opened his eyes. Their gazes met, and she detected a brief glint of embarrassment in his before he covered it up. She looked down at her hand, his cock still hard and slowly pulsing, and back up at him. “Don’t you dare be embarrassed about this.”

  Pink tinged his cheeks. “It’s been a long time since I came from a hand job.”

&
nbsp; “Well, then, that just means I’m awesome.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “I don’t know what to do with you sometimes.”

  She looked down and back up again. “I think you’ve got some of it down.” She then swung around so that she was no longer straddling him, got up and walked to the bathroom where she washed off her hand and grabbed a washcloth to help Matt clean up.

  She looked up. He was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, his pants still unbuttoned and his boxer briefs pulled down. She handed him the washcloth, which he took, dampened and cleaned up with.

  Even though watching him felt uncomfortably intimate she couldn’t look away.

  He finished, tossed the washcloth into the hamper in the corner and pulled up his boxer briefs before zipping and buttoning his jeans. He looked up and met her gaze with his own. She blushed, knowing she’d been caught watching him.

  Instead of saying anything, though, he simply leaned in and softly kissed her before pulling away, looking more like a shy, unsure man than the most intimidating pitcher in baseball.

  Something in her chest tightened then loosened, spiraled down down down and settled deep and unmovable.

  She didn’t have long to consider the sensation, though, because Matt grabbed her hand and led her back into the living room.

  Later, she told herself, I’ll think about that later.

  #

  “So about this statement,” Matt said once they’d settled back onto the couch.

  Jenn tucked her legs underneath her as she snuggled back under his arm. “Yes, about this statement.”

  “Darrin’s sending it to media outlets and telling them it’s an older video that was just recently uploaded to YouTube for some reason. He’s also releasing the terms of the restraining order I have against Heather to prove it’s not her.”

  “That makes sense.”

  He wound a curl around his index finger. “You’re not upset?”