We got plenty of looks as I marched out of the building with her in a fireman’s hold. After Sasha had caught us making out in the dorm, I’d figured word was going to spread across campus pretty quickly. She’d never been any good at keeping stuff to herself. So I might as well enjoy myself while we were the topic of conversation. I’d never really been one to worry about what other people thought anyway. But if people didn’t like the idea of us dating, they’d better keep that shit to themselves or take it up with me because there was no way I was going to let anyone make Kaylie doubt her decision to give me a chance.
I dropped Kaylie onto her feet once we’d made it to the sidewalk. Looking across the parking lot, I had an idea. “Did you play little league when you were a kid?”
“No, I was too busy with dance classes. Why?” she asked.
“Because I have an idea what we can do. C’mon,” I said as I grabbed her arm and pulled her with me to the batting cages. This was going to be perfect. I’d played a lot of baseball over the years, and the crack of the ball hitting the bat was a sound that brought back good memories for me. I was pretty good at it, so I could show off a bit. And it was a great excuse to get my arms around Kaylie again. Between this and sledding the other night, it seemed like I was going out of my way to find things we could do that involved me holding her. It was a pretty ingenious plan if I do say so myself.
I knew the guy working the cages from around campus, and he had no problem with giving me a couple helmets and a bat for Kaylie and me to use for an hour—although I hadn’t appreciated the grin he’d flashed her when he realized who was with me. So I picked the cage the farthest away from everyone else to give us a little privacy.
“Here. Stand right here for a round and let me get a feel for the machine before you give it a try,” I said, maneuvering Kaylie to a safe place outside the fence.
“Get a feel for the machine?” she asked.
“Yeah, I just want to see where the best place to stand is, how fast the pitches are, that kind of stuff. That way I’ll be able to show you exactly where to be when it’s your turn. I wouldn’t want you to get hit by the ball because I didn’t check everything out first.”
Kaylie looked at the pitching machine and back at me. “So it’s better if you get hit by a ball instead? And this is supposed to be fun?”
“No, neither of us should get hit by a ball. But it’s better safe than sorry where you’re concerned. Besides, it’s not like it would be the first time I’d been hit by a ball. You can’t grow up playing baseball without catching a few pitches.”
I grinned at her before pressing the button to start up the first round. I could feel her eyes on me as I squared up to hit the first one, and I totally missed it. Major whiff. Damn, she was a distraction. Not the best way to show off if I completely missed the ball every time.
“Do you get a mulligan in batting like you do in golf?” she teased.
“Everyone’s a critic,” I responded. “I just need to warm up a bit. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the batting cages.”
“Mmmm-hmmmm,” she replied as another ball whizzed past me while I was paying more attention to our conversation than what I was supposed to be doing.
I refocused my attention on the batting machine and waited for the next pitch. Taking a deep breath, I pushed all thought out of my head. The ball came rushing towards me and I swung with all my might. Thwack—a solid hit.
“Woohoo!” Kaylie cheered. “Nice hit.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, still focused on the pitching machine, waiting for the next ball. Now I felt like I had a point to prove and wanted to show Kaylie what I was made of. I hit about a dozen in a row, hard and fast. A couple of them might even have been home runs. I flipped the switch to pause the pitching machine.
“You ready for your turn, sweetheart?” I asked as I gestured her into the cage with me.
“Sure,” she said, strolling towards me and pulling on her helmet.
“Okay, now you stand right here.” I pulled her into place. Standing behind her, I put the bat into her hands, holding onto her arms so that she’d have it in the right position. “Hold the bat just like this, choked up just a little bit since you’re smaller than me.”
“Like this?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied as I ran my fingers down her arms, past her ribcage with a light brush of my fingertips against the side of her tits and to her hips. I used my knee to nudge her legs farther apart and tugged a bit on her waist to pull her stance down. “You want to keep your knees bent a little. Your arms, too.”
“Arms and knees bent. Got it.”
“Looking good. Now you just need to keep your eye on the ball all the way through,” I said before stepping away.
“So pretty much the exact opposite of what you did the first couple times?” she teased.
“Yeah, somehow I don’t think you’ll ever let me live that down. Let’s just see how good you do before you make fun of my batting skills. Okay?”
“Then let’s get this thing started. I just flip the switch right there when I’m ready, right?” she asked.
“Yup. Sounds like you’ve got it under control.” I walked outside the cage.
Kaylie turned to grin at me before she settled into a batter’s stance and turned the pitching machine on. I watched as she did exactly as I instructed. She bent her knees, choked up on the bat a little higher than I’d shown her, and swiveled it in a little circle as she watched for the ball. When it came sailing at her, she swung with all her might and knocked the shit out of the ball.
“Damn, Kaylie! You’re doing great!”
“Maybe it’s just beginner’s luck,” she muttered as she waited for the next pitch. I watched as she hit that one too—and the one after that. “Or maybe you’re just a really great coach?”
“Keep it up. Maybe you’ll be able to beat my hitting streak.”
“You never know,” she replied before hitting a dozen more pitches. She flipped off the machine after she surpassed me and turned to grin at me.
“Did I bring a ringer to the batting cages?” I asked. “I thought you said you didn’t play little league as a kid?”
“And I didn’t. But you didn’t ask if I ever played when I was older.”
“And if I had? What would your answer have been?” I asked as she pulled off her helmet and came to me.
“Well then I would have admitted that Char played softball in high school and here at Blythe until she blew her knee out her sophomore year. She still likes to bat every once in a while, but she doesn’t like to come alone so she brings me with her. And she might have given me some coaching in the art of batting.”
“And you couldn’t have clued me in before I tried to show off and gave you a lesson?” I grumbled.
“I thought about it, but then I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy your lesson. And that would have been a damn shame,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, it really would have been,” I agreed before leaning down to give her a quick kiss on her mouth. “How about we make this more interesting since it looks like we’re pretty evenly matched?”
“Hmmmm, I like the sound of interesting,” she whispered as she kissed me back. “What did you have in mind?”
“How about this? We’ll each do a round on the pitching machine. Whichever of us hits the most balls in total gets to claim a prize from the other?”
She leaned back to look at me and cocked her head questioningly. “A prize?”
“Yup. Whatever the winner wants,” I dared her.
She stared me in the eyes for a moment before answering. “Okay,” she nodded. “You’ve got a deal.” She took a step back and held her hand out to me to shake on it. So fucking cute.
“Ladies first,” I offered, waving her towards the cage.
I watched her as she squared up and took swing after swing, connecting each time. With each hit she made, I started to worry a little bit more about losing the bet. Luckily, she missed a couple at the
end, giving me an opening to win this thing.
“I was in the zone there, Jackson. Think you can top that? You’d have to be damn near perfect,” she bragged as she left the cage.
“I think I’m up for the challenge.”
She looked me up and down. “I just bet you are,” she said suggestively as she wagged her brows at me.
I stepped into the cage and waited for the first pitch. There was no way I was going to miss any of these. I wanted that prize. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but fuck if I wasn’t going to try my hardest to win it.
I took my time as each ball sailed my way. It wasn’t about strength right now. It was all about accuracy. I just needed to make contact each time, and I didn’t have a lot of room for error. I could feel Kaylie staring at me, but I couldn’t look at her and risk being distracted like I had been earlier. I only had a few more pitches to go and I was going to bring this thing home.
“If you miss these, then I win,” Kaylie said in a sing-song voice. “I wonder what I could do with my prize.”
That split second of listening to her was just enough for me to miss the next pitch. I knew that she was trying to draw my attention away from the ball and to her, but I couldn’t let her do it again. I was so close to winning that I could almost taste it. If I missed one more, it was a tie. The next pitch came and I tipped it for a foul, but it counted. Only one more to go.
I can do this, I thought as the ball came rushing towards me. I took my advice to Kaylie earlier and kept my eye on the ball all the way through my swing, my face splitting into a shit-eating grin as I watched it connect with the bat.
I dropped the bat and spun towards Kaylie as she came up behind me. “Wow, you sure don’t like losing, do you?”
“I can handle losing, but I don’t like to lose when it counts.”
“And what do you want for your prize?” she asked.
“Not sure yet. And unfortunately I need to get going or I’m going to miss a meeting at the frat house. But I’m pretty sure I can come up with something good.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you can too.”
I grabbed the bat and took her helmet so that I could turn the equipment back in. I grabbed Kaylie’s hand as we walked to the parking lot, and I took her back to her car, realizing how close we had parked to each other and wondering how I hadn’t noticed her car in the first place.
“Thanks for letting me kidnap you.”
“I’m really glad we ran into each other. That was a lot of fun,” she said as she got into her car.
I watched her pull out of the parking lot. She was right. Hanging out together had been fun. And it was something I wanted to do a whole lot more of in the future, especially now that I had my prize to look forward to.
Chapter 11
Kaylie
The next few weeks flew by between school, dance, work, and making time for this thing that was growing between Jackson and me. He and I had developed a bit of a schedule, spending time with each other in the afternoon as often as we could and going out to dinner at least once each week. Jackson had been coming to the bar to hang out most Friday and Saturday nights when I was working. It was kind of sweet how obvious it was that my bartending bugged him, but he never said anything about it. He just kept showing up and making sure that I was safe when I was at work.
Not that he really needed to protect me from guys anymore since word had spread across campus that we were dating each other. Although his presence sure did help to make sure the other girls kept their claws in since he’d made it clear that he wasn’t going to let them give me any shit while I was working. Hell, while I wasn’t working for that matter. That didn’t stop all the glares and catty remarks, but I could take it. I’d decided he was worth it.
Jackson had kept our attraction burning at a low sizzle, backing away any time we got too hot and heavy. There was no doubt in my mind that he was in this for me and not for sex. If he had been, there had been plenty of opportunities where he could have gotten into my panties with the bare minimum of effort on his part. Or he could have claimed the prize he’d earned from our day at the batting cages for something sexual. Instead he’d just told me that he was keeping it in his back pocket for later. But we’d reached the point now where I felt like tossing my panties at him to make sure it was damn clear that I was ready for the next step. In fact, that wasn’t a bad idea.
“Hey, Char?” I said to get her attention off her homework so that I could properly judge her reaction to my suggestion.
She dragged her gaze from her computer to look at me. “Hey what, Kaylie?”
“I have a date tonight with Jackson—”
She quickly interrupted me. “And? It’s not like that’s unusual.”
“And I had a crazy idea,” I continued.
She jumped up and came over to me at that. “Oooh, crazy ideas are my specialty! Tell me more.”
“Okay, but you have to promise to tell me if you think it’s a bad idea.”
“Like I’d have a problem telling you something was stupid. Please,” she said as she rolled her eyes at me.
“Good point. I was thinking about putting a pair of panties in my purse and giving them to Jackson to tell him I’m ready,” I rushed out as quickly as I could and waited for the explosion.
She didn’t flip out and actually seemed to be considering it. “Hmmmm, that could actually work. But I don’t think you can just put a pair of panties in your purse. You’d have to skip wearing them altogether to get the best reaction from him.”
“Seriously? That’s your great advice?” I asked. “Go commando and tell the guy you’re dating that y’all aren’t wearing panties before ya slip him a pair,” I continued in a deep Southern drawl to mock Char.
“Yup, I’m pretty sure that’s what I just said. And it was totally based off your idea to begin with, so cut the sarcasm.”
“Sorry,” I sighed.
“I get that you’re nervous. But you don’t have to do anything that drastic. You could just tell Jackson that you’re ready. But I can damn well guarantee that if you did go commando and slip him a pair of panties at dinner, then you’d be in for the night of your life. He strikes me as the type of guy who would really go for that. In a big way. And you’d be the recipient of some major naked gratitude.”
“You think so?” I asked. That’s what I thought too, but I was letting doubts creep in.
“Oh, yeah. Like on-your-knees, lick-me-please gratitude.”
“Ohmigod, Char!” I giggled. “Where the hell do you come up with stuff like that?”
“I don’t know. It’s a talent you just have to be born with I guess.” She shrugged her shoulders.
It took me a few minutes to settle down before I could speak coherently again. “I like the sound of naked gratitude, so I guess I’m going to go for it tonight.”
“Good for you. And while you’re at it, wear a skirt, too,” she suggested. She must have noticed my shocked expression at her suggestion. “I didn’t say a miniskirt or anything. I don’t want you to flash your vajayjay at the whole world. Wear that pink one that goes to your knees. It’ll have more impact if you go pantiless with a skirt on. Trust me.”
“And are you speaking from personal experience here?”
She gave me a sly smile before answering. “Shane may or may not have talked me into doing it a time or two myself. There is something so sexy about having a naughty secret like that.”
So here I was that evening freaking out, minutes before Jackson was going to pick me up for our date. I’d sent him a text letting him know I would meet him downstairs instead of having him meet me in my room like he usually did. He hadn’t seemed happy about the change in plans because he liked picking me up, but there was no way I’d make it out the door without my panties on in this skirt if we started the night in my dorm room. One of two things would have happened. Either I would have quickly thrown on a pair of panties or I would have told him my secret way too early in the night and
we might not have made it out of the room at all.
Jackson pulled up to the curb, and I hopped into his truck before he could even get out to open the door. “Hey,” I greeted him breathlessly.
He looked at me oddly before leaning over to give me a kiss and buckling up my seatbelt. I knew he liked to do little things for me, but I also couldn’t help but notice that he always managed to sneak little touches into it. Like just now, when his fingertips skimmed my boobs as he drew the belt across my body.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yup. I’m starving. Where are we headed?” I replied, hoping to divert his attention away from my nervousness.
“I thought we’d just grab some burgers if that’s okay with you?”
“Sure, burgers sound great. Whatever you have planned is fine,” I said as I made a waving motion so he knew it was okay to leave.
He headed to a local burger joint that had a burger toppings bar that I loved. They made the best burgers, juicy and perfectly cooked. And they had all sorts of stuff that you could get on your burger. I usually stuck with my favorite combo of mushrooms, cheddar cheese, banana peppers, and steak sauce. This time around I thought it would be best to skip the peppers with all the butterflies in my stomach right now. Which got me another look from Jackson as he sat down across from me in the booth once we were done ordering at the window. I swear, I couldn’t put anything past him since he paid so much attention to my likes and dislikes.
I waited until we were eating before moving I excused myself to use the bathroom. “I’ll be back in a second.” Jackson just nodded and watched me as I walked away.
As I washed my hands, I stared at my reflection in the mirror and gave myself a quick pep talk since nobody else was around.
“You can do this. Hell, you have to do this. There’s no backing down now. You heard Jackson when he said that sometimes you just have to take what’s coming to you. Go out there and do exactly that.”
The Blythe College Complete Series Box Set Page 29