Then they said together, “Josie, you’re pregnant.”
“I…I didn’t even think about that. I don’t get my periods very regularly because of all the ballet. With everything that happened, I forgot to pay attention.” Suddenly, she found herself lying across Max’s lap. He put his hand on her stomach, kneaded it gently, and moved up to cup her breast. Josie was mortified. “Max! My lord!”
She blushed furiously. Patty and Annabelle turned their backs but couldn’t stop laughing.
Max’s hands were all over her torso, from her breasts to her tummy and back again. “It happened so gradually, I hadn’t noticed. Oh my god, Josie!” He startled all three women and pulled her into a crushing hug. He stroked her back and started barking orders. “Patty, we need a good doctor, the best there is in the city. Mom, you’ll have to make the wedding happen now.”
Josie laughed and he pulled her back to stare into her eyes. “What is so funny? We have a million things to do. I’ll call someone about the nursery. We can use the smallest guest room, it has great light. You’re still laughing, Josie.”
“I can’t believe we’re going to be parents. I’m not giving up being carried so stay strong; you’ll be carrying us both.”
Max kissed her until she couldn’t breathe and then they were both crying. Annabelle and Patty started crying. They got Scott on the phone and he said he’d be up in two weeks for vacation.
“Can you get the wedding done by then, Mom?”
The older women had expressions on their face that told Max it had been a very silly question. Ten minutes later, with lists in hand, they left to go shopping.
Max carried her to their bedroom and laid her on their bed. He explored every inch of her skin as he stripped her clothes away.
He kissed over her entire face, licked a tiny line down her neck, and sucked her nipples until she was begging for mercy. He took his time as he settled his shoulders between her thighs and spread the lips of her pussy to expose the soft pink folds.
He licked and sucked at her clit as his fingers stroked lazily in and out of her. When she came for the second time, he brought her down gently, and rose to his knees.
She captured his face in her hands and sucked his tongue into her mouth. She tasted her own flavor on his lips.
“Take me, Max…I need you inside me. Please.”
He made love to her so slowly, so gently, and so thoroughly that Josie was limp with exhaustion by the time he allowed himself to come and collapsed beside her.
Max laid on his side, his huge hand spanning her tummy, while he smiled ear to ear. “You know, baby, this whole girl thing you have going on is making it very hard for me not to act like a damn caveman.” His eyes went wide. “What perfect timing! With everything, I forgot something really important. Be right back.”
She watched as he bounded from the bed and grabbed up his gear bag. He set it at the end of the bed. There was nothing like Max in all his naked glory. “I ordered you something after we came back from the cabin. It took some time to get it back. I hope you didn’t think I forgot.”
He pulled out a small box and climbed up the bed. She would never get over how gorgeous he was. He reminded her of a tawny lion stalking its prey.
“I could lick you all over, Max.” He laughed and laid down beside her.
“I’m glad you like my body…my body likes you very much.” He gave her a smacking kiss on the lips and laid the black box on her bare tummy. Now that both of them knew she was pregnant, the differences were so much more obvious. “Open it, Josie.”
She picked it up and flipped open the lid, gasping when she saw the wedding set inside. An enormous princess-cut diamond surrounded by pink stones, all set in platinum, was nestled against black velvet.
The engagement ring was engraved inside with their initials and the date they’d met at her bakery. There was an additional inscription on the wedding band: To my best friend Josie…I love you, Max.
Josie burst into tears and turned to kiss him. “I love you, Max. More than anything or anyone I’ve ever known. Thank you for wanting to be my friend.”
He brushed her tears away and put the ring on her finger. “Thank you for letting me, Josie.”
Then he sighed as his soon-to-be wife and the mother of his baby crawled all over his body, making love to him everywhere with her mouth and hands, until he insane with the need to come.
As she lowered herself over his cock, she stared into his eyes. “You’re the most perfect man I’ve ever met, Maximus Grant. I’m going to love you so hard for the rest of my life.”
She started to move and Max could focus on nothing but the feel of her around him.
Epilogue
Four years later…
Josie watched from the box as Max ran the last play of the season, scoring the touchdown that won the Steelers another Super Bowl.
Lately, he’d been talking about retiring. He was ready to devote more time to their family and spend less time on the road. Pittsburgh’s administration was trying to convince him to stay another year but he wanted to go out on top.
He’d also started noticing how much longer injuries were taking to fully heal. Whatever he decided, Josie would support him as he had always supported her.
Anna was jumping up and down, screaming at her father as if he could hear her. “You did it, Daddy! You did it!” Josie wrapped her arms around her sweet three-year-old and smiled.
They waited until some of the crush was lessened before she walked down with Annabelle and Scott to the field. Little Anna wore protective headphones and was shielded between them.
A few reporters asked her questions and she responded easily, more comfortable with the press after four years spent in the spotlight with her husband.
When Max saw them, he plowed through the crowd. He scooped Anna into his arms and crushed Josie to him, kissing their faces and hair. “I know I’m sweaty and disgusting, but I love you guys so much.” Smiling at his mom and brother, he added, “We did it.”
“We’re so…so proud of you.” His mother clutched Scott’s waist and they surrounded Max and his little family. They were all laughing, crying, and talking at once.
It wasn’t his first Super Bowl ring, but he considered it the most important because it would be his last. It was a great way to retire. He’d made the final decision when he’d spotted them on the field and it filled him with a sense of anticipation.
Over the next hour, there were interviews and team congratulations but Max held on to Josie for dear life, their little Anna between them.
When he’d congratulated his team and hugged his quarterback holding the Vince Lombardi trophy, he was ready to leave. His mind was on his family…his wife in particular. The reporters could go on for hours and he’d given them all the time he was willing to tonight.
Annabelle and Scott went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheeks. “We’re going to take Anna back to the hotel. It’s freezing. We’ll meet you in the lobby and go for breakfast if you want. Either way, we’re keeping my precious granddaughter with us for the night. You two have a lot to celebrate.”
He hugged them hard one more time and rubbed noses with his daughter. Then they made their way to the stadium exit, Anna skipping happily between them and talking a mile a minute. The security team he’d hired would shadow them until they were safely in their suite at the best hotel in Denver.
The team was slowly making its’ way to the locker rooms, the media in tow. As they entered the tunnel and the bright lights diminished, Max took the opportunity to lift Josie completely, smiling as her booted feet wrapped around his waist and she crushed herself against him.
He ducked to the side and down a short corridor. “I’m so happy for you, Max. You worked so hard for this.” She spoke softly in his ear and ran her fingers through his damp hair. After the noise of the games, she liked to soothe him down. “You’re going to be so sick, baby. Go shower and I’ll wait for you outside the locker room.”
The noise of the
team celebrating carried loudly down the concrete passages.
Max cupped the back of her head and put his mouth next to her ear. “I need to be inside you right now…so bad, Josie. I can’t wait. Say yes.” She nodded and he stepped inside an abandoned stairwell.
His helmet dropped to the floor with a loud clatter as he put Josie on her feet in the shadows. He turned her to the wall and pushed her jeans down her hips. The moment his gear was loosened, he pulled his cock free, and pressed against her back.
Holding her hips, he slid into her from behind with a growl. “Yes, Josie, oh god yes. Since the game ended this is all I could think about. Your sweet pussy wrapped tight around my cock.”
He drove deep and hard, his arm across her low abdomen to keep her steady. She braced one arm on the wall and grabbed his ass with the other. When he slid his huge hand over her bare hip and circled his fingertips over her swollen clit, she could barely control her moans of need.
“Yes, Max, harder…take me harder. You feel so good.”
He flattened her hands on the wall in front of her and pushed her back lower. With her hips in a vice grip, he slammed into her over and over, the sounds of their bodies sucking at one another covered by the noise at the other end of the hall.
After less than a minute, she rocked back hard and cried, “I’m coming…Max, it’s so good.”
She tightened around him, her face against her outstretched arm with her jaw clamped tight to keep from screaming. He joined her, his face against her back to muffle his groans.
Gasping for air, they allowed their heart rates to settle into a normal rhythm before Max carefully pulled out and turned her to face him. “I’m sorry. I just…I needed you so bad.”
He pressed her into the wall with his body and kissed her. “Every time is so good, I can’t get enough. I promise I’ll make it up to you.” He nuzzled down her neck and she felt the damp head of his semi-erect cock bump against her stomach.
“That was the hottest thing ever, Max. You need to shower and finish up…I want you again. Hurry.”
He nodded and gritted his teeth as he pulled his uniform back together. Getting dressed was the last thing he wanted to do.
She shimmied her jeans over her hips and he cupped her mound through the denim. “Your panties are going to be soaked. I can’t wait to take them off.” He kissed her hard and she sealed her body to him. “I want to love on you until the sun comes up, Josie.”
He took her hand and raced back the way they’d come. He left her with the other team wives after a searing kiss and a promise to come back as fast as he could.
Two of the women smiled knowingly at her and the taller one, married to the team’s best defensive tackle leaned closer. “I see you two started celebrating early.” Josie blushed to the roots of her hair, the effect made more dramatic now that she’d gone back to her natural red hair.
The other woman chuckled. “Honey, no need to blush. You have that man wrapped up tight as a Christmas present. Not many of us can say that. Good for you.”
A couple of women who’d been across the room approached and a gorgeous blonde told her quietly, “We haven’t known how to…you know, talk to you before, Josie. We usually do so much together as the team wives and you’re always off by yourself. We’ve let that go on too long.”
Josie smiled at the woman who’d taken the team quarterback off the market last year. “Don’t worry. A lot of people don’t know how to talk to me. I understand, I do.”
A pretty brunette who wasn’t much bigger than Josie said bluntly, “You handled the situation better than anyone I know could have. I’ve always wanted to tell you how much I respected that.”
“A class act by any standard,” another woman said softly.
They took seats around her, drawing her into their conversations and asking non-intrusive questions about her life. She showed them the most recent pictures of Anna and all the women found her adorable.
“We saw her in the box and she certainly knows the game. When Max scored the final touchdown, even my sons were amazed at her excitement.”
They could hear the men coming loudly down the hall and Max was the first one through the door. He picked her up, sat down, and had her in his lap before the other men even reached their wives.
“Hello, baby, I missed you.” Glancing around at the other women, he gave them a huge smile. “She’s great, isn’t she?” They nodded, some wishing their own men were so affectionate and appreciative.
All his focus was on his wife as he said, “I’m stealing you away now.” She nodded and he stood up with her in his arms. She waved over his shoulder at the laughing women.
Max wound his way through the stadium to the parking lot and the Escalade he’d rented. He put her in her seat and ran around to the driver’s side.
When he put the key in the ignition, she put her hand over his. “Max, I’m pregnant.” He stared at her and his mouth opened and closed several times. “I found out this morning…I wanted to wait until after the game to tell you.”
Without a word, he started the truck and turned on the heat. Then he got out and put down the seats in the back. He came around and picked her up. She was set carefully in the cargo area before he climbed in behind her and pulled the door down.
He took his time undressing her, as if he was unwrapping a gift, then undressed himself. Their clothes became a makeshift bed. When they were both naked, he pushed Josie to her back and worshipped her from head to toe as if they had all the time in the world.
As if they weren’t naked in a rented vehicle in the middle of a stadium parking lot literally hours after the biggest, most publicized game in football.
When she was slick with sweat and felt like she’d run a marathon, Max settled himself in the cradle of her body and slid his cock deep inside her.
He hadn’t said a word, had barely made a sound, as he wrung one orgasm after another from his wife’s body. Now, he looked into her eyes, his hands brushing the hair back from her face. He was nudging the entrance of her womb, completely still.
“Josie, I love you so much. Do you know that?” She nodded and lifted a hand to stroke his cheek. “You’ve brought me so much happiness. No matter what I need, what I want, you’re there for me. That you’re giving me another child, another member of our family to love, you don’t know what it means to me.”
He devoured her mouth as he began to move. “Now I want to thank you for letting me take you so abruptly earlier and show you how happy I am that you’re pregnant. Come for me, Josie. Feel me deep inside you, know how much I love you, and come for me.”
A long time later, they finally made it back to their hotel. They shed their clothing the moment they closed the door and headed for the shower.
In the middle of the night, they drifted to sleep talking, as they did most nights, with Josie wrapped up tight in the warmth of Max’s arms.
The next morning, he set coffee and doughnuts from a local bakery on the bedside table. Then he loved his Josie awake as the sun streaked the sky in her favorite color.
Win, Lose, or Raine
Shayne McClendon
Prologue
Five years ago…
Opening her eyes, Raine Storm turned her head to look at the gorgeous man sleeping beside her.
Her eyes roamed his exposed body, wandering from his tousled blond hair to his now-stubbled jaw, across his tanned shoulder and down his leanly muscled back to where the sheet barely covered what she remembered as being an almost perfect ass. She paused for a moment to appreciate that thought before bringing her eyes back up to his face.
Bits of the previous night started to drift into her mind. She knew his eyes were whiskey brown and that he had very interesting tan lines, but she couldn’t quite remember how they’d gotten to his hotel. She thought he might be an athlete but that part was a little foggy.
Though she could not remember his name, Raine did remember the mind-blowing fucking that had continued for hours on end.
Vaguely, she wondered what happened to Macy and Nanette, her sorority sisters who had been with her the previous evening. They were usually good about taking care of each other but they knew she planned to leave with someone last night, tired of being the last remaining virgin in their sorority house.
After all, she’d figured she had guarded it long enough and no one permanent was even remotely on the horizon. It had gotten more than a little embarrassing.
Since it was her birthday and she was finally legal drinking age, she let a bunch of the sisters take her out to celebrate. They bought her shot after shot, each one slightly different “so she’d know what she liked for next time,” or so they claimed.
Soon, other patrons of the bar had joined in the fun.
Someone had put Closer on the jukebox and she started dancing with a bunch of different people. Raine remembered the man currently in bed with her had stayed nearby, not dancing with her, but watching.
He’d first come up to her when she was playing darts between shots, and by the time she decided he’d suit for what she wanted, she’d been totally wasted for the first time in her life.
She recalled that sometime during the short conversation they’d had he told her he had little sisters, and she needed to be careful in a bar full of men.
As the evening progressed, his good intentions must have fallen by the wayside, because somehow Raine convinced him that having sex with her was exactly the right thing to do.
His arm and leg were currently thrown over her body and she was sore in all the ‘right’ places, if her friends were to be believed.
Now, she needed to get out of here before the awkward “I don’t even know your name” crap happened. She’d die of mortification.
Slowly and more than a little regretfully, she eased herself out from under his hard body. She found her clothes and purse before running silently into the bathroom. Only when the door was fully closed did she turn on the light.
Love of the Game - The Complete Collection (Box Set) Page 26